


Friends

by asoulofstars



Series: A Mess You Would Wear With Pride [19]
Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Communication, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asoulofstars/pseuds/asoulofstars
Summary: Riona and Shawn have been a bit awkward since their first kiss didn't lead to a relationship. Riona picks a sort of bad time to check in.
Relationships: Abigail Lytar/Shawn Spencer, Shawn Spencer/Original Female Character(s), Shawn Spencer/Riona Gallagher
Series: A Mess You Would Wear With Pride [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028376
Kudos: 2





	Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place at the end of/as a tag to "An Evening With Mr. Yang".

Riona rushed down to the Cinema Vu as soon as she could. She saw Shawn in the lobby, and she swallowed hard.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Riona!” He looked up, surprised. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here?”

Riona ran her fingers through her hair. “I wanted to check on you after everything that happened today.” She looked at his tray of snacks. “Are you…going to watch a movie?” she asked.

He smiled. “Uh, yeah. I’m actually kind of on a date.”

Riona’s heart dropped. “Oh.” She blinked a couple times. “Oh, I should let you…do that, then.” It was becoming harder to breathe, and she knew she had to get out soon before she started to cry. “Good night, Shawn.” She turned to leave.

“Riona,” Shawn said gently, freezing her in her tracks. “We’re still friends, right?”

Riona turned and gave him a small smile. “Of course we are. Always, Shawn. Why would you ask that?”

“I just…I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep tonight, so…I could still call you, right?”

Riona took a few steps over to him, and she kissed his cheek. “I will _always_ be around for you if you need me. If you can’t sleep, you know I’m probably not sleeping either. I’ll go for a ride with you any night.” She swallowed, and then she kissed his cheek again. “Get out there for your date. She’s not gonna wait forever.”

_And maybe it’s time that I stop holding on…._

“Night,” he said hoarsely.

“Night, Shawn.” She went back to her car, where the tears finally started to roll down her cheeks.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for him; she was. But she was so in love with him that it hurt, and she wanted to be the one he was getting popcorn and drinks for. She drove home, and she took Freyja up to the roof, clutching her phone in her hand so that she could respond immediately if Shawn needed her.

~*~

Instead of the pier, they ended up at the Psych office after he picked her up. She still enjoyed the rush of the wind on the motorcycle, the way that she got to wrap her arms around Shawn and just hold on. They sat on the couch, and Riona kept expecting Shawn to say something, but he was quiet. She normally waited him out, but tonight, she knew that he was guilty, and she wanted to have him talk it out with her.

“Talk to me,” she said.

“About?” He raised an eyebrow.

She gave him a pointed look. “You know what about. You were called out personally by the biggest serial killer in Santa Barbara. You feel guilty about everything that happened today. So, talk to me.”

He swallowed. “Okay, fine. You want me to start at the part where Yang was stalking me? Where she was _there_ all day? Or how about the part where when I made a show of giving up so that I could breathe and work things my way, she kidnapped my mom to get me back into the main act? How about the part where my dad told me exactly what would happen if I got involved, and I basically told him to go screw himself?” His voice kept changing, as if he was trying to hold in the emotions.

But Riona knew that he wasn’t angry at her. He was angry at himself. Because that’s how guilt worked. That’s how she had lived her life since she was 12. So she just hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her, and he hid his face against her chest. She rested her chin on top of his head, feeling his hair against her throat.

“I’m not going to tell you to stop being guilty. Guilt just doesn’t work like that, not when the people you love are on the line. But that’s what Yang did for years. Call someone out and play a game. That’s her MO. If it wasn’t you, it would just be someone else. She was going to keep playing games regardless of who was there to play with her.” She ran her fingers up and down his spine.

“How do you know so much about serial killers?” he asked.

“Curiosity,” she replied. She wasn’t sure enough to voice her suspicions aloud, so she left it at that. “Why are you still so tense?” She rubbed at his shoulders.

He pulled out of her grasp, and he glanced at her before looking at the floor. “I almost didn’t call you tonight. Even though you were expecting a call and would have worried about me if I hadn’t. Isn’t it selfish of me to need you to be the one to sit with me? I could talk to Gus; he wouldn’t be awake, but I could wait until tomorrow. I…isn’t it selfish of me to ask if we’re friends like that? When I’m on a date and….” He trailed off.

“Shawn, _no_. My feelings are _not_ your problem.” Riona hugged him again, this time hiding her face in his chest. “We are friends, first and foremost. I’ve been crushing on you since, well, forever. And I knew that it was a bad idea. I go from zero to 100 almost immediately. You don’t really do commitment. But you were honest with me. It’s not like you lead me on. I honestly never expected us to get to a place where we would be anything more than friends, but you know me well enough to know that if anything more had happened that night, or even if we went on a few dates, that you weren’t ready to have a serious relationship, and that was clearly what I wanted. But we are _always_ going to be friends, and I don’t care if we’re never on the same page beyond that, so long as you’re in my life. Fuck, please don’t add more guilt to today because of me.” She finally glanced up at him, eyes wide and practically begging as she finished.

Shawn was quiet through her whole speech, and he pulled her close. “Thanks, Riona.”

“Needing a friend is never selfish,” she told him. “And, yes, things have been a little weird between us, but you were my friend before anything else happened, and you are still my friend now. No expectations.”

He smiled, and he gave her another squeeze. “I’m glad I called you.”

Riona rested against his chest, smiling softly. “Agreed.”


End file.
